Not Most People
by Mynerva
Summary: Face had done this a hundred times, busting Murdock out of the nut-house and he thought this would be like all the other times. Except this time, a desperate voice, the sound of someone who needs help, draws Face into a sinister plot being hatched at the VA Hospital. T for language. No pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N My first fiction surrounding the A-Team whom I adored as a child. Especially Face. I do not own the A-Team, merely borrowed. Please read and reviews are as always, welcome.**

* * *

It was a terminal case of, wrong place, wrong time but even as the handsome lieutenant tried to console himself of that fact, it still didn't help him out of this situation. As the two hospital orderlies man-handled him into a sparsely decorated, off-white private room, his calls for help went ignored, after all he was in the nut-house and he guessed screams and calls for help (especially when you were being chaperoned by two of the biggest and burliest on the staff) were common-place.

Wrong place and wrong time, he thought once more as he watched the balding doctor make ready a mean looking hypodermic loaded with happy juice. Face swallowed thickly as he was pushed down onto the bed and held down. No amount of struggling had helped him so far so he once again resorted to his words. He took great pride in being able to talk himself out of tight spots and he just hoped he was on top form for this particular scenario.

"Listen, Dr…"

"Morgan, but you knew that already." The middle aged man loomed over his captive patient, his expression as dark as the circles under his eyes.

"No, no you see, I'm Dr Howard from Howard and Lowe pharmaceuticals. I'm simply here to check on the progress of one of our drug-trial patients…" He put on his most sincere tone, having rehearsed this particular alter-ego on many occasions when he needed to spring Murdock from the hospital. The one thing he didn't need to fake was the fear as he eyed the menacing syringe. "All I'm guilty of is opening the wrong door, I got lost is all. This reaction is hardly what I would call appropriate behaviour for such an honest mistake."

"Sure, an honest mistake." Morgan began as he deftly swabbed the exposed skin on Face's arm and the hardened soldier felt his resolve crumble and resorted to struggling once again. "But I can't risk you telling the authorities what you saw. Not till it's over."

"I didn't see anything!" Face pleaded as he felt the needle scratch its way under his skin, followed by an uncomfortable iciness seep into his vein. The shot was delivered with precision and if he hadn't seen it coming, Face would have barely felt it.

"You saw my patient, and you must have heard his raised voice prior to my men opening the door to find you there." Face cursed his curiosity as the walls and ceiling started to do one crazy trick, bending and twisting like they were made of melting chocolate. "I'm not a violent man, I'm not about to hurt anyone else because of my mistake. So you will be fine here in the hospital until this is all over."

"Wha-t…?" The drug was working fast, whatever else was said, he didn't hear it, the whole world had gone into a crazy melt down as the drug took hold.


	2. Chapter 2

They'd been waiting over an hour now and there was still no sign of Face or Murdock. Hannibal checked his watch a third time, counting the minutes that had passed and coming up with the same conclusion. They were late. More than late.

"What the hell is keeping those fools so long," B.A complained, his large hands gripping the steering wheel, impatient to get going.

"I'm not sure, it's never taken Face this long before."

"The sucka's probably done a runner. You heard how much he was whining about missing that date he's got lined up tonight."

"I hardly think so, B.A. Sure Face is never exactly happy when a job cuts into his time with the ladies, but he's always come through for us." Hannibal shifted from the front seat and into the back, going through his prop bag and started putting a disguise together. "I'm gonna go inside, see if I can find them. Maybe Face's charm finally failed him." He winked over at B.A who just huffed impatiently.

* * *

Ten minutes later and Hannibal returned to the van with Murdock who was once again reiterating that entire morning's events, from the moment he woke up and took a leak to the second Hannibal turned up to his room. During that entire rant there was not one mention of Face and no one at reception had any recollection of the handsome, young Dr. Howard.

Hannibal got into the passenger side of the van and looked back at the hospital as Murdock made his sock puppet, 'Alfie' comfortable. Whatever meds they had Murdock on right now, really made him talk a lot and when people in the hospital stopped listening, Alfie came into existence. Of course this entire display wound B.A up instantly.

"Hannibal, this fool is talking to his sock like it's a real person! Why'd you bust him out? Hospital is the best place for him."

"Oh it is the best place, isn't it Alfie?" Murdock smiled at the sock puppet on his hand. The sock looked back at Murdock and nodded, the red piece of fabric that was its tongue, lolled around while two sightless buttons gleamed back, one at Murdock and the other at B.A such was the haphazard way it had been stitched. "Its chicken noodle soup for dinner later, Alfie loves those chicken noodles; will we be back for dinner colonel?"

"I doubt it, captain. This job has us a least a day's drive south and another day back again. Simple pick up and deliver." Hannibal explained as he pulled off the wig of Dr Lowe, who had so far been unable to track down his partner, Dr Howard.

"Well you know if Faceman can scam us a plane we can do it in a few hours."

"I ain't getting on no plane, Hannibal." B.A growled.

"There and back again, a sock puppets tail." Murdock continued. "It'll be Alfie's first flight and it'll be so much fun to have a co-pilot as crazy as I am, right B.A?"

"Get that thing outa my face, fool before I feed you it!"

"Sargent, captain!" It wasn't often Hannibal addressed them each by rank, usually only when their fights were getting out of hand or he needed the silence to think. "Besides, Face is AWOL so getting a plane is out of the equation."

"Doesn't sound like Face's style." Murdock said almost miserably, already he was missing his friend as out of all of them, Face was the one who made Murdock feel normal when he went along with his episodes.

"He has a date." B.A stated matter of factly.

"Still doesn't sound like Face." Murdock grumbled as B.A glared at him in the rear-view mirror.

"So what now Hannibal? We gotta move soon if we're gonna get there by morning." B.A looked to his CO who was still regarding the VA hospital with a suspicious eye.

"Go B.A. I'll call Face from the road; hopefully he'll get the message and can meet us there somehow."

* * *

"What's that?" Asked one of the orderlies responsible for holding him down. With the happy juice in his system it was really hard for Face to focus, but he was aware of sounds, even if his drug addled mind took a while to decode what those sounds meant. He was also in no fit state to put up much of a fight, which was probably why only one of the goons had hold of him.

He frowned down at himself, seeing that he had been removed of his clothes as was now sporting a pair of hospital PJ's. He was sat up, head feeling like a lead weight but full of helium at the same time, it took a lot of effort to simply lift his gaze to the man currently holding his jacket, pulling out his cell from the left pocket. "Swanky phone." The orderly complimented but all Face could do was gawp back.

"Just leave it," the second orderly said while pulling Face to his feet. "In fact turn it off, whoever it is will just have to leave a message." Face was steered towards the door, but he looked back at the phone as the orderly done as he was told and turned it off, before returning it to the jacket pocket and hanging it on the coat rack. He knew it was probably Hannibal calling him, wondering what the heck was taking him so long in springing Murdock so they could leave for the job, but right now there was nothing he could do to alert the team to his situation, he just had to hope Hannibal would somehow know…

"Come on pal, one foot, then the other." The orderly on his right commanded and Face turned hoping to give him his best glare, but he didn't think he pulled it off. The fact the ground beneath him seemed to tip and sway, like a boat on the ocean, Face had to muster all of his concentration to keep from falling. It was easy for the guy to say 'one foot in front of the other' but he wasn't high on God knows what. "We got a nice cosy room all set for you."

Face tried to speak, to respond to what was being said but all that came out was a groan and he felt his balance shift. To their credit the two burly men kept him up and hurried him along. Dressed how he was and some what out of it, he fit right in because no one seemed to blink an eye as he was shuffled along into one of the smaller rooms. This one had no furniture at all, just plain white, padded walls. Face realised immediately what was going on and despite his mind being soaked in syrup, he was still with it to know he had to get out of there. If he could just call out, maybe alert Murdock…

"You men," a female voice from behind drew the orderly's attention and they no longer tried to pry the drugged lieutenant from off the door frame. "When you've secured this patient, we need help to lock down the facility. Captain Murdock has escaped again."

Face frowned and the sudden distraction was enough to ruin his efforts to avoid being locked up and with a grunt, the two men had him inside the padded room and on the floor.

"You got some strength in ya, buddie." One of them quipped as he backed off leaving Face struggling to get back up before his was closed in. He stumbled into the door as the lock was turned and he weakly banged his hand into the cushioned fabric. "Sleep it off pal," he heard the muffled voice say. "You'll be out in a couple of days."

Face's legs buckled under him and as he slipped down the padded walls to the floor his foggy mind tried very hard to make sense of his situation. For a start, how was it that Murdock had escaped? That's what he had been sent in to do. Hannibal must have come in looking when they hadn't turned up, but if that was the case, why hadn't his CO found him yet!?

The walls felt a little too close as the gravity of the situation dawned on the drugged lieutenant and he realised he might be trapped in here. The doc and his men had said for a few days only, until some job was complete. He couldn't rely on them being truthful; after all, desperate men with something to hide could seldom be trusted. He would have to get out of this place himself and with luck, even if Hannibal and the others were fooled, it wouldn't be for long. Despite their differences and the occasional spats, they knew each other well, they knew him well and they knew he wouldn't just abandon a mission, not even for a pair of legs as good as the ones on Colleen. The crooked smile he now wore was made more crooked by the drugs and he tried once again to shake away their hold on him.

The room was much more secure than any of the ones Murdock had stayed in and while the place was on lock down following the crazy captain's bust, there was very little chance that Face could vacate the hospital undetected for at least a couple of hours, by then the drugs might have worn a little and he would be able to think and move unhindered.

* * *

Face lifted his head as far as he could and frowned down at the blurry white floor, resisting the urge to close his eyes once again to shield them from the glaring starkness reflecting back at him. He figured he'd passed out but for how long he couldn't even guess, his internal clock was well and truly confused thanks to the meds. He been so relaxed, that he'd drifted off, still sat against the door and he could feel the moistness on his chin from where he had been drooling. Feeling mildly embarrassed and self conscious about that he wiped it dry with a sluggish, heavy arm, almost giving himself a black eye in the process, such was the state of his motor functions.

With a groan he looked up at the small window set in the door and realised if he was going to get any indication of the level of security, he would have to get up there and take a look. If he had only been asleep an hour, then the security level would still be quite high and he would need to bide his time, however if the hall seemed calm, he'd likely been out of it a lot longer and could put himself to work and try to escape.

With a determined huff, Face pushed his feet against the floor and keeping his back firmly against the door, gradually pushed himself up, using the wall to steady him. Half way to the window he had to pause and blink away the gradual tip the floor was doing. He looked down at the ground, willing it to stay still and after a few seconds the motion stopped, so he pushed himself to his full height peering through the shatter proof glass. To his surprise Dr Morgan was peering back at him, together with another man, this one in an expensive black suit. The guy in the suit was short and round, completely bald and wore dark glasses but some how Face knew this man was regarding him with the same amount of contempt he would grant a bug in his morning coffee.

"H-hey!" He shouted his voice horse as it clawed its way past the dryness of his throat. His attempts to clear it were about as futile as getting some help, for the guy in the suit simply shook his head and started to snarl at the doctor beside him. Clearly this man was in on what ever Face had stumbled into and the lieutenant tried very hard to focus on their lips. He was very good a lip reading, being in his line of work demanded a level of observation that most people didn't have. He could spot things most would pass over as unimportant, but to a man like him; they could be the key to getting into the personal space of someone who had something the team needed. Lip reading came naturally to him because of that particular gift, but he wasn't exactly operating on all cylinders right now and could only make out every other word.

_"What am I paying you for…"_

_"It'll be done…locked up…drugs…suicide…no trace…"_

Face felt himself going cross eyed and he had to blink a few times to right his vision, by then only Morgan remained, the suit having strode angrily away. Face frowned back at the weary looking man, seeing nothing but regret and fear in his eyes, telling the observant lieutenant that Dr Morgan was likely in just as much trouble as Face was himself.

"Wait..!" he pleaded as Morgan started to move away. The doctor paused and looked back at the glass as Face weakly hammered his palm against it, he met the captive mans eyes, seeing the unspoken call for help but simply shook his head and walked away.

Face closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the glass in frustration before exhaling a calming breath. The words he had read in their conversation worried him and for good reason. From what he could understand, he was a loose end, one they meant to tie up in a staged suicide. It would be easy to do too, by now they had to realise Face was not the pharmaceutical rep he claimed to be, as far as they knew, he could be just another junkie looking for a hit. A couple of injections here and there and Face is down from an overdose and no one even blinks!

Why had he wandered down that corridor? Why had he let that raised, desperate voice sway him from his given task? With a sigh Face opened his eyes once again seeing the white floor, tip and buck beneath his bare feet.

"Getting soft in your old age, Peck." He softly berated himself as he attempted to straighten up. There was no way to exit the room from the inside, no lock to pick, not even a handle, but since he hadn't suffocated that meant there was a way for the air to get inside. With no windows it had to be a hidden ventilation system and he had to find it. With the possibility that his captors would tie up this particular loose end fairly soon, Face couldn't take a chance on waiting any longer, he had to try and escape and soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Hannibal frowned down at the phone as once again his call to Face's cell went straight to voicemail. It was odd; the first few calls had rang a dozen times before being diverted, now it didn't even bother to ring. Had Face turned off the phone to better avoid the incessant ringing? To escape the request, no, order of his commanding officer? Ok, so they were technically no longer in the military, but ever since their run from the authorities began, the only way they had survived was to run together, work together, just like Nam.

Setting the phone back on its cradle, Hannibal looked across to B.A who met the colonel's eyes briefly before watching the road once more.

"It's not right." B.A said, his large hands gripping the wheel tighter. At first Hannibal thought that B.A meant how unfair it was, that Face was simply ditching them, but the next words elaborated what the burly mechanic really meant. "No way would Faceman ignore us like that, not even for a skirt."

"You're right B.A," Hannibal said as he put out his cigar and looked back at Murdock who was dressing Alfie in a piece of cloth that was meant to be a dress jacket.

"I told you guys, Face will be with us momentarily, he's just getting dressed for the occasion."

"Shut up, fool! Faceman isn't your damn puppet! He could be in real trouble, pull yourself together!" Murdock scowled and with his free hand hit the side of his head, like something was in there buzzing around.

"Why do you have to shout so loudly, I swear your voice just stays inside my head ringing around for hours and hours!" The outburst worried Hannibal, and B.A if his reaction was anything to go by, as rather than shout back, B.A looked in the rear-view mirror, real concern in his eyes. They'd only been on the road a few hours and while Murdock's behaviour was never ordinary, it was never this irrational. Like Face had once said, it was a good kind of crazy, but this, this was anything but good. "I'm gonna have to get something to open her up and let all this noise out, I can't think anymore!"

"Pull over B.A," Hannibal ordered and the team's driver quickly found a side road to pull into and got off the motor way while the colonel eased himself into the back and knelt before the highly strung pilot. "Murdock," the colonel spoke softly, not wanting to irritate the younger man even more. "Look at me, captain." He urged when Murdock kept his head down, hands clasped either side of his face. Slowly but surely his soldier lifted his gaze and let his hands drop. "Now, I need you to try and hold it together son, and tell me everything that's been going on with you since we last saw you. Think you can do that?"

"Sure can do, colonel. Not much really," Murdock began, his words coming out in fast mumbles; it took all of the colonel's focus just to be able to keep up with him. "You guys dropped me off on Monday, made it back just in time for meat-balls. I saved some for B.A because he said he could smell something good when we pulled up. I kept them under my bed for you, but I think they must be bad now because the cleaning fella keeps spraying my room with some kinda sweet, smelling…"

"Murdock, focus." Hannibal urged seeing the pilot look back at his co and nod before squeezing his eyes shut.

"Right you are colonel. I'm sorry this buzzin' is getting so loud." He shook his head and sighed obviously trying to ignore the distraction, even if it was just in the guy's head, it still counted as one. "Tuesday was kinda odd, Dr McKenzie didn't turn up and we got a replacement real fast. Dr Morgan, he's nice enough, looks real tired though. He started me on some new meds."

"Is that so," Hannibal smiled and checked Murdock's pockets, finding the bottles he kept there.

"It's the little white ones that are new colonel."

"You've been on these a day and you're already like this?" Hannibal looked to B.A who shook his head.

"Thought medicine was supposed to make you better, not worse." B.A huffed from the driver's seat with a shake of his head.

"Change of plan, some thing isn't right. I could feel it the second I set foot in the place, but I couldn't put my finger on it."

"It's the loony-bin, Hannibal, what kinda vibes were you expectin?"

"Definitely not the ones I felt." The silver haired colonel slipped back into the passenger seat leaving Murdock continuing to dress his puppet, but rather than hand back the suspiciously, unstamped little white pills, he slipped them into his pocket. "Head back to the VA," he ordered as he picked up the phone once again.

"You trying Faceman again?" B.A asked as he kicked the van into gear.

"No, Amy. We're gonna need her in on this." Hannibal quickly dialled up their reporter friends number and after a few shrill rings, her familiar voice greeted him. "Amy, it's Hannibal. Listen, can you meet us at the VA hospital in twenty minutes."

_"Sure, is everything alright with Murdock?"_

"I'm not sure yet, I'll explain everything when you get there."

* * *

If years of being on the run had taught him anything, it was to never leave home without his lock picks. Even without a lock to pick, most of his tools were multifunctional and small enough to be concealed anywhere. While the men had rid him of his clothes and all his belongings, they had over looked his shorts. Most men were loathe to strip another man right down to the bare-bones and it was that rule that had the veteran hustler sew a spare set of tools into his underwear. The seam of his shorts was thin and it took very little coaxing for the sharp end of the tool to protrude through the fabric.

Face managed a weak smile as he concealed the metal slither in his palm and with bleary blue eyes he began to inspect the walls closely. Buildings often had a particular symmetry when it came to the layout of their rooms and even though he had never been in this one before now, he had seen Murdock's room on many occasions and knew the layout by heart. While Murdock's room had a window for ventilation, he also had air conditioning and ultimately the systems would be connected. After taking a moment to figure out which wall the vent was likely to be on, he moved towards it, keeping one steadying hand on the wall as he did so and it wasn't long before he felt the subtle drop in temperature and a faint click, muffled by the padding that lined the room.

Now that he'd located the vent, all he had to do was cut through the padding, undo a coupe of screws and he was home free, but all that was going to take quite some time with such a small tool and he figured his hosts would take issue with vandalism, so he carefully made the first cuts into the seam of the section of padding. If he could make the cuts to follow the pattern of the padding, he could push the freed section back into the wall, disguising his 'tunnel' when ever his captors came calling.

Facing his back to the door, he placed himself between the part of the wall he was working on and the window in the door, to obscure what he was doing to anyone who happened to look in. He'd just about got the first corner cut away when he heard the door handle turn… Face deftly pushed the exposed padding back and slipped the metal tool up the seam of his sleeve just in time for the doc and one of the orderlies to walk in.

Both men stood there looking down at the lieutenant, who was hunched over feigning lethargy. Sure, Face was still feeling the effects of the happy juice but not as much as he was making out. He hoped it would be a convincing enough act to deter any further use of the drugs.

"Who are you? You're not Dr Howard, I checked. There is no such company as Howard and Lowe." Morgan asked, kneeling down to meet the sleepy blue eyes of his prisoner.

"You got me," Face said with a grin, doing his best to roll his eyes like he was still miles high. "The names… Hemmingway." He faked a snigger and turned away. "I was just looking to score a hit."

"Well, you certainly scored more than you bargained for." Morgan said in a disappointed tone.

"Oh hell yeah," Face smirked. "You got some good stuff in that needle of yours."

"Look, this is very important. What else did you take before you came here?" Face was caught a little by surprise by the concern in Morgan's voice but he quickly recovered with a giggle and started to rise as best he could from the floor.

"I don't know, man, lots of different stuff. Never hit the same place twice." At that moment, Face lurched forward as if to fall seeing Morgan reach out to help but the sluggish patient had vanished leaving a deadly soldier in its place and within a couple of second, Face had floored the good doctor and left the orderly nursing his groin. Before they could recover, the lieutenant raced out of the room, swaying only a little as he closed the door and locked them inside with the keys he'd lifted from the orderly.

It had all happened so fast and Face was genuinely surprised he had pulled it off. Blinking the blurry vision away, Face gave a cheery wave inside the padded cell before trying to walk in a straight line towards the nearest exit.

* * *

After meeting up with Amy and handing her the suspicious pills, Hannibal set to work generating another disguise so he could infiltrate the hospital once again, this time he needed one that would grant him more access than before, not to mention the fact people were now looking for Dr Lowe who had assisted in a patients escape.

Murdock was still enjoying the company of Alfie and given his state, B.A was patiently putting up with it.

They had parked the van up around the back of the hospital, away from the main road and most of the human traffic coming in and out of the building. They had to keep a low profile as possible while they conducted their stakeout and took a closer look at Dr Morgan.

The completed disguise would hopefully allow him to pass relatively unnoticed as a janitor cleaning the offices and plant a bug so they could listen in to any conversations taking place that would give them some clue as to what was really going on in there.

"Amy said she'd call as soon as her contact in the lab can get the pills analysed, until then we need to try and piece together what's going on and confirm where Face is, if he is being held here at all." Hannibal summarised looking back at Murdock who continued to mumble.

"I'm probably the best to go in and look, they know me, I know them and I know the halls and the rooms…"

"Soon as you're feeling better captain," Hannibal got out of the van and immediately fell into character, hunching over like his back had seen better days. The balding, white haired wig and long, untrimmed, white moustache done a wonderful job of disguising his features, while the jump suit had the name of a well known cleaning company that the hospital outsourced. It was more than enough to fool those working the hospital.

"Soon as this buzzin stops, soon as it quits its motion." Murdock nodded and started once more preening the well groomed sock puppet.

"Keep an eye on Murdock, if I'm right about what's going on here, it's just lucky we sprung him when we did."

"What about the job, Hannibal? We're never gonna make it in time for the pick up if we meant to drive."

"Forget about it for now, this is more important. The wellbeing of my men is my one and only concern."


	4. Chapter 4

It wasn't long before the alarm had been raised and as Face rounded the next corner, hugging the wall for support, two of the nursing staff called for him to stop. It took a whole second before he started to run in the other direction as two capable looking male nurses gave chase and he was once again cursing his slow reaction times thanks to the drugs. He scampered through and open door, before closing it behind him and barricaded it with a nearby chair, laid out for visitors. It wouldn't hold very long, but it bought him a few second to put some space between himself and the staff, he knew most of which thought they were only doing their job, but right now if he tried to explain the truth, he would look crazier. Of course running had the same effect but at least e had a chance to get away if he did.

More voices echoed ahead and the faint static that followed radio transmission made Face realise the staff were coordinating through walkies. Out-numbered and out-manoeuvred, it was only a matter of time before he was caught again but he wasn't going to quit until he had absolutely exhausted all options.

Avoiding most of the obvious hall ways, he clung to the darker, lesser used routes, finally seeing a fire exit that was already open and wouldn't trigger any sort of alarm. He staggered past the elderly janitor, apologising as he almost toppled the guy before making one last bid for freedom.

He could taste the outside air; feel it cut its way into his lungs, clearing them of the stifling, antiseptic aroma of the hospital. The late morning sunshine stung his tired eyes as he took his first step towards the rays, but that was a most welcome discomfort. What he didn't like was the sudden sting in his exposed neck as he was about to take that final step towards freedom. What he also didn't welcome, was the lethargy and the fact his legs seemed to have checked out, refusing to work anymore. Face blinked rapidly trying to remove the double vision that had suddenly washed over him and despite wanting to go forward and out of the door, he was staggering back, holding the place at his neck where he felt the sting. His hand came away, having plucked a small dart from his skin and he glared at it accusingly. His vision blurred and cleared once more, just enough so he could see one of the security staff lowering a dart gun, while two more men ran towards him.

The lieutenant groaned pathetically as he slid down the wall weakly, barely hearing the words of amused acceptance from the orderlies. Apparently he had given them their work out for the day and one even patted his shoulder affectionately as they placed him into a more comfortable position as the tranquilizer claimed the would be escapee.

* * *

Hannibal had acted surprised and adequately indignant as the young man came stumbling around the corner almost knocking him off his feet. Still in character, the colonel staggered convincingly but almost broke his act when he realised just who it was who had barged into him. He almost called out to his soldier, but kept himself in check, for right on Face's heels were a number of the hospital staff, plus a few thugs watching menacingly from further up the corridor. They didn't dress like hospital staff and the way their jackets hung, he could tell they were packing heat.

His lieutenant staggered back from the open fire escape that Hannibal managed to break through undetected, and hit the wall behind him before sinking to the floor. It all happened so quickly, leaving Hannibal no window to assist his man, who was now well and truly down. His gut twisted in disgust, who ever was responsible for this mess was going to answer personally to him, but he had to track that someone down first and unfortunately there were just to many for Hannibal to take alone. He had to go through with his plan, but at least he had indeed confirmed that Face was here and in desperate need of help.

"Nice try, fella," one of the male nurses said as they laid the drugged man down gently. "But you're no Howling Mad Murdock." Hannibal almost smiled at that, the reputation of his captain was well known and for good reason.

"This one must be a new admission, I've not seen him before." said the second as the guard responsible for darting Face drew closer, urging Hannibal, the janitor on and away from the scene.

"Move it along, pal. This fella's served his country and doesn't deserve no gawking from the likes of you." The guard glared down at Hannibal, who smiled and nodded.

"I ain't gawking son. Served myself. Seen some, terrible things but…" He glanced back at Face and suddenly realised how young his lieutenant still was and had been back then. "I'm just thinking that it's such a shame. He seems so young, who is he?"

"Couldn't say, pops," the male nurse said as he examined Face's wrist, obviously looking for a hospital band.

"He's a John Doe," came another voice and all turned to see a doctor approach. A tall balding man, with a gaunt expression and looking like he hadn't slept in a month. His name tag read 'Morgan' and Hannibal had to summon all of his self control not to pound the guy into the ground but judging by the quickly forming bruise around his jaw, it looked like Face had already done that, no doubt while trying to get away.

"John Doe?" Hannibal asked meeting Morgan's eyes, making the nervous doctor look away first. "I thought this was a veteran's hospital, wouldn't the army have records?"

"Of course they do, but they haven't been able to identify this man since he was found in Vietnam, shell-shocked with no identification. He's still very ill and unable to communicate who he is." Morgan knelt by Face seeming to examine the man. "I need him back in his room so I can finish his evaluation," the nurses nodded and one left, returning moments later with a gurney while the guard ushered Hannibal along.

"Alright, shows over. Let's give the guy a little privacy shall we?"

"Course," Hannibal mumbled as he shuffled away with his cleaning supplies, looking back as long as he could and long enough to see Morgan produce a syringe.

* * *

The rest of his surveillance had been simple. Since the distraction provided by Face had everyone's back turned the colonel was able to search the offices uninterrupted. He located Morgan's and since the doctor was busy with his patient, Hannibal had plenty of time to plant the bug and take photo's of some pretty shady documents concerning patient medications and treatments.

He got back to the van and got inside, pulling off the wig and moustache angrily.

"He's inside, as a patient." Hannibal explained looking back at the hospital and nodding to B.A who activated the receiver for the bug. "Dr Morgan is definitely up to no good, I think Face stumbled onto it some how and ended up being invited to stay."

"So why didn't you bust him out?" B.A asked in the only way he knew how, sounding defiant and incredulous, but Hannibal seldom took that to heart, he knew the sergeant was worried and rightly so.

"Too many," he explained as he lit up a cigar. "There's at least one pack of goons in there heavily armed, the rest are just staff doing their jobs. We have to think this though, discover all the facts and work out who and what we're dealing with before we can do anything." He looked back a Murdock who would be their ace in the hole just as soon as he'd come down off what ever the good doctor had plied him with. "How's the head, Murdock?"

"Not as loud, but it's still moving colonel. It's still moving." The captain rotated his head as if trying to alleviate pressure in his neck. "What's the Faceman doing in there anyway? He better not be borrowing my stuff, I have a list and if anything is missing I'll be asking that hustler for it back."

"No danger of that happening, Murdock. They got him locked down and drugged up in the high security wing."

Murdock's brow lifted and he looked somewhat uncomfortable. "That's a bad place, colonel. They had me in there once when I slugged Joe Peterson for stealing Billy's dog treats. It's a lonely, lonely place, you loose all track of time and forget who you are. It's not so bad for me cos I had Billy, but Face ain't got anyone, we gotta bust him out." Hannibal regarded his captain with a contemplative gaze.

"Think you're up for that, captain?"

"Course I am, it don't matter about the buzzin, I can put up with that if it means my lil brother's safe, colonel."

"Good man, Murdock."

_"What the hell happened there!?" _They all fell silent as voices started to buzz through the receiver in hand. _"You said he wouldn't be a problem, you said you would keep him under wraps until the job got done! I swear, Morgan, if you fuck this up…"_

_"It's under control, he is under wraps. I've got him secured in a padded room, doped up to the nines. He doesn't even know what day it is, never mind understands what's happening."_

_"He heard us…"_

_"Yes, he did, but he's not going to be telling anyone, anytime soon. Once the job's done, I'll cut him loose."_

_"And risk him identifying us!?"_

_"I'm the only who's not anonymous in this, I'm the one who'll be taking the fall when he picks me out of a line up. But I don't care! You just keep up you're end of the deal and you can have Granger." _Hannibal frowned and looked to Murdock who answered the unspoken question.

"General Granger, he's supposed to be visiting the hospital tomorrow."

"Granger's a highly decorated general. I served under him in Nam, he's a good man."

"Why would these fools be gunning for him?" B.A asked.

"He's running for the states attorney position here in LA, from what I can tell he's first in all the projected polls. My guess is these guys are voting for the other guy."

_"Make sure it goes off without another hitch," _the angry sounding man continued. _"Or you can count on never seeing your son alive, again."_

"That explains the good doctors involvement." Hannibal stated with barely concealed annoyance.

"And why he's been lookin awful tired."

"What we sittin around for, Hannibal. Let's get in there and teach that sucka some respect."

"Hold that thought, B.A, first we need a guy on the inside." Hannibal smiled across at his men before picking up the phone.

* * *

A few hours later Amy stood at the reception desk of the VA hospital with Murdock in tow. The staff recognised him right away and proceeded to thank Amy for returning their escaped patient. She explained she was meant to visit that morning but had to attend a last minute meeting and Murdock had become worried which prompted the break out. She'd found him later that afternoon in her apartment, talking to her fish accompanied by Alfie. The staff bought the cover story and after a while she and Murdock where now in his room ready for the next phase of Hannibal's plan to be put into action.

After getting the all clear from Amy, Hannibal got out of the van, donning yet another disguise, this time of a maintenance worker, someone a little younger than Hannibal the janitor. He nodded to B.A who positioned the van ready to tail the crooks in suits; with luck they would lead B.A to where they were holding the doc's kid. Morgan would have to answer for the harm he'd done, but the loss of a child was not going to be his punishment.

Once the boy was out of harms way, they would set to work busting the crooks and rescuing Face, who Hannibal was growing increasingly worried about. The last time he'd seen the kid, he was out cold and being dosed up with more. Fair enough the doc himself seemed to be genuinely looking out for Face's life, but the effects of drugs in any dose could be unpredictable and dangerous.

While B.A tailed the suit as he came stomping from the hospital, Hannibal got word to Amy and Murdock, who began their tour of the VA's lesser travelled paths…

* * *

_"Get up, Face." A familiar voice echoed to the sleepy lieutenant and right away he felt annoyed. He was trying to sleep here, he was so very tired. All he'd been doing was work, work, work. "Come on lieutenant, up and at 'em!" Hannibal, it could only be him. _

_Face groaned and rolled onto his side, trying to blink away the haze. All he could see was white, a glaring stark white, blurring into forever. Nothing had depth or shadow, just white._

_"About time." Hannibal's voice echoed to him from some indiscernible direction, leaving Face questioning whether he'd actually heard him at all. Just when he was starting to doubt his sanity, the colonel knelt before him, cigar in hand and smile on his lips. "It's hardly the time to sleep, Face."_

_"I'm sleepy," he slurred in response. "Most people sleep, when they're sleepy."_

_"We're not most people," the colonel chewed the end off the cigar and started to light up. "We get back up when most would stay down, we fight on when others give up and we don't abandon each other."_

_"Well of course not, but…"_

_"You know we're coming for you."_

_Face blinked up at Hannibal, fear knotting his stomach when he realised something. "You mean, you're not here already?" The white walls were starting to come into focus and as they done so; the image of the colonel began to fade. "Colonel!"_

_"Get up, Face…" Hannibal's words grew feint as his form evaporated before the hustlers bleary eyes._

_"Wait…" he knew it was pointless reaching out, but he done so anyway…_

* * *

Face's out stretched hand fell to the floor when he realised what he'd seen was just in his head. A hopeful dream, that followed him into this waking nightmare.

With a sob, Face rolled back so he was now staring up at the ceiling and a hopelessness emerged that he hadn't felt in years. The last time he had felt this powerless had been in the POW camps back in Nam and it was only because he'd had his team, his friends around him, that he'd escaped with most of his marbles. He had Murdock to thank for that more than most; the older man had taken a lot, so a much younger Templeton Peck would be spared. It was the reason why Face had more patience for Murdock than anyone else on the team, why he went fishing with dummies and played along with nuts, puppets, socks and dead lobsters. The horrors of those camps had done that to his friend, and his friend had placed himself in harms way deliberately so Face, barely out of his teens, wouldn't have to endure that pain and torment. Hannibal too, and B.A, they'd all closed in around Face like the family he'd never been blessed with.

The sense of hopelessness was fading as he realised how lucky he was, how fortunate he had been and that his moping, wouldn't go down well with the colonel.

"We're not most people…" Face repeated the words from his dream and smiled as his fingers brushed against the jagged edge of the metal tool in his sleeve. Turning his head to the left, he could just about make out where he had started to cut through the padding. "I know you're coming for me." He muttered and he very slowly started to drag himself along the floor.

Again he positioned himself with his back to the door and half slumped against the wall, bone weary and barely able to focus. He had to get away this time and while he didn't have any hard evidence to support this gut feeling that his team mates were on their way, he also couldn't rid himself of it. Every time he tried to talk his dull, hazy mind out of this course of action, the colonel's words drifted back, reminding him, renewing his efforts.

He had no idea how long he picked at the lining of the section of wall, but pretty soon he had exposed the underside of the vent and with a lazy smile and heavy arms, he slowly undone the screws. If he could lift, even bend the metal cover enough so he could squeeze inside, even when they realised he was gone, he would have an entire network of confined, dusty shafts to shuffle through, emerging anywhere. It was his best shot, his only shot and it had to count this time.

With the screws now loose, Face pried at the vent, pulling with as much strength as he could muster, cutting his hands numerous times before finally managing to create enough of a gap to slip into. By now he was exhausted, it seemed all that effort had tripled the effects of the chemicals floating around his system, most of which seemed to be in his head. Now inside the vent, he had barely shuffled a few meters when he was overcome and drifted off.

* * *

The sound of an alarm blaring drove Hannibal on through the hallway. He'd got word from B.A around ten minutes ago that he'd secured the boy. With the hostage safe, Hannibal and Murdock set the next stage of the plan in motion; the alarm was Murdock's way of telling the colonel that he had started the distraction leaving Hannibal a clear run towards the higher security ward.

With most of security converging on the east wing, Hannibal slipped through easily under the guise of a repair man looking to fix one of the office's computer systems. The skeleton crew that remained let the colonel through with minimal checks and Hannibal made straight for the secure ward, peering through the windows trying to locate his man. Each room had a different patient inside, most of which were so medicated they didn't even notice their observer. One room was suspiciously empty, the padding of which on the north wall, seemed distorted and smeared with something resembling blood.

Every member of his team was resourceful but none more so than Face, he had to be to fulfil the teams sometimes outrageous requests. Face had busted out and now Hannibal was wondering whether the alarm had been raised for this. Taking it in his stride, he made straight for Morgan's office, barging in without knocking and wearing headphones. The doctor looked up surprised at the sudden intrusion as did his guest.

"Oh sorry, guys," Hannibal removed the headphones. "The guy on the door said this office was empty. I'm just here to repair the computer."

"The computer doesn't need repair, you must have the wrong office." Morgan said with a small smile.

"But I have the request here…" He took out the food stained piece of paper and placed it on the desk, 'accidently' bumping the guy in the suit. Right away the suit looked angry and stood, shoving the disguised colonel.

"You heard the man; he said you've got the wrong room." Hannibal smiled as their closeness allowed him to relieve the suit of his weapon and in the blink of an eye the colonel had him at gun point.

"It's not nice to shove people, pal. If I were you I would sit down and don't even think about getting up again." Hannibal warned seeing the crook slowly sit back down.

"What are you doing!?" Morgan cried, lunging for the weapon but the colonel was to well trained to be taken by a civilian. He grabbed the doctor by the jacket and pushed him back into his own chair.

"I'm giving you the same advice, doc. Sit down and don't move."

"You don't understand, what you're doing, you can't…" Morgan's words spilled out in desperation and tears filled his eyes.

"Take it easy, doc. We now about your boy, he's safe." Hannibal softened just a little as he explained and Morgan looked back at the gun wielding stranger with something resembling awe and disbelief.

"Yon son-of-a-bitch!" Hannibal locked eyes with the suit as he snarled at the doctor. "You called in help didn't you? You ratted us out!"

"No, I have no idea who this guy is!" Morgan pleaded, but the desperation in his voice was gone, now he knew his son was safe, he took on a more aggressive stance towards the blackmailer. "And I don't care! You can rot in jail for the rest of your life for what you put me through, for what you put these patients through! I'll testify now, so help me God I will see you locked away!" Morgan lunged for the other man but Hannibal pushed him back again, not taking his eyes off the suit.

"Easy, doc. You'll get that chance." Hannibal calmly lit up what was left of his cigar. "Right now, we need a place to hold this guy till the cops arrive."

"Of course, you can put him in one of the secure rooms." Morgan fumbled for the keys on the wall behind him. "But he's not alone here. Two of his cronies are disguised as orderly's, they were put here to make sure I cooperated and help me dose the men here."

"I've seen the pills, but what are they exactly?" With the suit now restrained in one of the hospitals fashionable, backwards jackets, Hannibal led the crook into the spare padded room that Morgan led them too.

"It's an experimental substance; it increases the dopamine levels in the brain, making the subject experience auditory and visual hallucinations. I didn't want to do this, but they had my boy…"

"I don't understand how making crazy men crazier, has anything to do with the General's visit tomorrow."

"They wanted him dead, but they had to make it look like an accident. They planned to have as many patients here as possible, loaded up on this drug, making them volatile. So when the general paid his visit, chaos would ensue."

"And during this, chaos, the general is killed and one of the patients is singled out for the murder."

"Exactly." Morgan frowned meeting Hannibal's gaze. "Who are you anyway? How did you even know about any of this?"

"I'm colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith and you've had a new admission recently," the colonel kept his tone calm, but inside he was still angry about his man being held against his will. Some of that anger was directed at the doc of course, but he also had some sympathy for the man, he had been caught in a difficult situation. "He happens to be a good friend of mine, a member of my team, and I want him back."

"The junkie?" Morgan started towards the room Hannibal walked by earlier. "He came in, pretending to be a doctor from a pharmaceutical company, he overheard a pretty heated discussion between myself and the thugs sent to keep me in line, and they were concerned he'd heard too much and were going to kill him, I convinced them they didn't need to do that…" Morgan frowned as he looked through the window and Hannibal knew Face's escape was news. "He *was* in here." He fumbled with the keys and opened the door, looking at the blood smeared wall in shock. "I sweat to you; he was in here not ten minutes ago."

Hannibal stepped inside and shuddered inwardly. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to be locked away in a room like this, questioning your own mind, left with nothing but your own thoughts and memories. Sure it was cleaner than the POW camps but a prison was a prison, no matter how you dressed it up and Hannibal knew Face would have been desperate to escape. After Nam, they were all wired pretty much the same, which is why the military stockade couldn't hold them for long ten years prior, and the reason why this room hadn't been able to hold the lieutenant now.

"Did you give him any of this, drug?" He had to ask, he needed to know exactly what Face was going to need help with, if the kid was going to be unpredictable and a flight risk, Hannibal had to put precautions in place to protect both Face and the team.

"I'm afraid those men didn't give me much of a choice. When your friend escaped the first time, they told me if I didn't dose him, he'd be taken away and shot. I'm sorry, colonel, I just… I didn't want his blood on my hands."

"You were looking out for him and you've got my thanks for that, but I need to find him and we need to get the rest of the goons secured away."

"I'll have security search for him now," Morgan started towards his office to use the phone.

"No, bad idea. He'll just think you're trying to lock him up again and I don't want anyone, especially my man hurt."

"They won't hurt him, colonel and I doubt you're man is in any fit state to injure anyone either."

"I suppose he wasn't in any fit state to escape that room back there either? One of the first rules of hunting, doc," Hannibal said softly as he plucked the phone receiver from the docs hand and placed it back on the cradle. "You don't corner an injured animal." The colonel kept his gaze serious because that wasn't an insult to Face at all; if anything it was a compliment. The kid had skills, proficient in hand to hand combat even if he complained about having to partake half the time.

"Alright then, colonel, he's your guy, what do you want to do?"


	5. Chapter 5

Face woke, startled by a loud bang and muffled voices. His immediate thought was to run, or rather crawl as far, and as fast as he could away from the commotion, which led him to a dead end. Realising his panic had caused this blunder and still quite alarmed, Face forced himself to try and calm down, but it was proving easier said than done. Another bang echoed loudly in the tunnels around him, and slowly the glimmer of dull metal started to turn into the damp soil of trenches. The lieutenant stared in fright as the world around him altered bit by bit, and he could have sworn he could smell it, gun fire and the aroma of explosives and smoke. The banging returned, like someone drumming on metal and Face scuttled along back the way he came, this time taking a turn he had passed before.

Eventually he could see a light ahead and taste the freshness of the air, the dusty confines of the tunnel he was crawling in, smothering and hot, he had to get out, had to get back to the team. More banging, like gun fire and raised voices followed. Was he back there? Was he back in Vietnam, had the last ten years been nothing more than a dream? Some kind of hallucination his mind whipped up to spare him the agony of being a POW? If that was so, he was going to have a good long discussion with himself for what constituted as BETTER than hell. He almost sobbed as he reached the end of the tunnel, the glaring light coming through having hidden a firm metal cover, preventing his escape. Angrily he shoved his shoulder into the barrier, not realising how easily it would come away and suddenly he was crashing to the floor of some kind of office, his head barely missing the corner of a table while his shoulder connected hard with a filling cabinet.

The dazed lieutenant groaned and shuffled into a corner, hoping to hide himself from any alerted Vietcong, but as he blinked away the haze and half blinded by the sudden change in illumination, he realised he hadn't been underground, that he wasn't back there at all. He was in the VA hospital and while he wasn't being hunted by 'Charlie' he was in trouble.

Face swallowed thickly and scanned his surroundings for anything that could help when the door opened and in charged one of Morgan's goons, obviously hearing the crash. Face scurried to his feet and got behind the table. He watched the guy, when he moved around the table, Face would go the other way, all the time keeping the table between them, and holding onto it for support as his legs did not feel steady at all. The time spent in the vent had him hot and bothered and coughing up dust, but the danger from this man was very real and kept the lieutenant on his toes. The goon smiled menacingly knowing this was anything but a fair fight, after being drugged and spending an hour in a hot dusty environment, his prey was an easy mark, but the most important lesson Hannibal had shared with his young lieutenant was to never get over confident, never assume ANY mark is easy. Being armed with knowledge and experience was great but right now, all Face wanted was his gun or his team, preferably his team. B.A would beat the guy into a stain in the carpet, while Hannibal stubbed his cigar out into the puddle, leaving Murdock to dance wildly…

As he pined for his friends, Face felt his attention slip and the next thing he realised was that the goon had leapt over the table and proceeded to tackle the dazed man. Face made sure to fall with the tackle and brought his knee up just so, catching the bastard in the groin before using all of his strength to push the guy back and roll over with the momentum till the lieutenant was now on top, beating the goon with already bloody hands, and he couldn't stop. So scared was he of going back to that sterile room that he wanted to make sure this guy was never getting up again. Face snarled down at the man, who's nose was now broken and lip cut, he knew if he kept this up he would kill him and for a frightening moment he didn't care.

"Lieutenant!" Years of answering to that title, that voice, that tone, halted Face. He stayed there, straddling the brute who had subjected him to a day of hell, right fist pulled back, charged for another pummelling, but instead he listened to that call, that order, that man. Hannibal. Slowly his fist lowered and he got up, backing away from his assailant, breathing ragged, head pounding and the room spinning, but he wasn't going down, not here, not again.

Movement caught Face's eye and he turned seeing Morgan. A red haze that misted his vision as he lunged for the doctor and if it had not been for Hannibal, Morgan would have suffered the same fate as the man currently on the floor.

"Face! Stand down!" Hannibal barked, the black gloved hands of his CO grabbing his lieutenant by the scruff of the cotton hospital shirt, before pushing him hard against the wall. Face glared at the doctor, not seeing his CO who had wedged himself right against his soldier, taking all his strength and every limb he had to hold back the younger man.

"He did this! He put me in here!" Face screamed, sending chills up the spines of both Murdock and B.A who had arrived quickly on the heels of Hannibal as they heard the commotion. It wasn't often Face lost his cool; he always had that mask of calm and confidence, especially in the field more so when he was hurt or hurting inside. So to see him like this, was frightening.

"They had his kid, Face!" Hannibal screamed back and Face's anger faded just a little. He glared one more time at Morgan before turning to face the while haired colonel, who held Face until he could be sure the lieutenant wasn't about to do anything rash. Red, bleary, blues met the stark, piercing ones of a hardened soldier and Face just nodded, feeling his entire body start to shake. "They wanted you dead, kid. He saved you." Face let go of the breath he had been holding and almost cried, was this over? Was it really over?

"I don't believe it, how did you…" Morgan was checking on the fallen goon, he was alive but would be feeling that beating for a long time to come. "The amount I've given you would have laid most people up for a day…"

"We're not 'most people', doc." Face frowned, not looking away from his CO, his blood-shot eyes holding onto the man, afraid that if he looked away, Hannibal might fade away, like before. The fact the colonel had just spoken the very words Face had dreamt a few hours ago, making him doubt again, whether any of this was even real.

"You're here, right?" Face's voice was horse as he asked the question, bloodied hands grabbing hold of Hannibal's shirt as the colonel stepped back. "You *really* are here, aren't you?" His voice sounded so pathetic, desperate and the way it broke at the end, he had to swallow back the misery or he would loose it.

Hannibal's gaze softened and Face saw the familiar concern, the kind only a CO had for the welfare of his men. "We're here, Face and we're taking you home." Face let his eyes close briefly trying to compose himself and hold back the flood of relief that threatened to spill out. "B.A throw this bastard in with the others then bring the van around."

"Sure thing, Hannibal." Their large team mate stomped inside and collected the beaten man with very little care. Face didn't relax completely till he was gone and even then, despite Hannibal's assurances about Morgan, still didn't let his guard down completely where the doctor was concerned. He was in no mood to listen to the mans explanations or apologies either. He just wanted out.

* * *

With the crooks locked away and the police contacted it was time for the team to make their exit and not a moment to soon for his lieutenant. The second B.A's voice came over the radio stating he was in position, Face moved as fast as he was able towards the door, weaving a path first into the frame before bumping into the hallway. He still wore the hospital gowns, covered in dust and speckled with blood some drops larger than others.

Hannibal wasn't quite sure how Face was still standing, it was clear he was struggling but the younger man refused any help and so with the colonel and Murdock as shadows, Face wove his way towards the rear fire exit, the one he had almost fled from earlier that day. The younger man seemed to hesitate at the threshold, as if he expected someone to reach out and snatch freedom away once again, but a closer look revealed a pair of closed eyes and a sad smile forming, curving his lips ever so slightly. Hannibal didn't want to rush him, the kid had been through hell that day and if he wanted to revel in his freedom then he could take as much time as he wanted.

After a minute, Face's eyes opened and he squinted out into the slowly fading light of day, his pale features illuminated by the soft warm hues of the setting sun. Finally he stepped out, staggering onto the small patio before walking onto the grassy hill towards the van. The incline wasn't that severe or sudden, but the kid stumbled more than once, his balance already off thanks to the cocktail he'd been served. A level surface was enough of a challenge; it seemed Face had hit his cliff, even if it was just a mound.

Murdock couldn't watch anymore and jogged towards his friend who was struggling to get back up. At first Face resisted, but Murdock convinced the kid the only way Murdock could. By the time they'd reached the van Face was barely conscious and it took the combined efforts of Murdock and Hannibal to get him in the back and seated. Face was mumbling and coated in a fine sheen of sweat, eyes closed before fluttering open once more. He was fighting it, resisting the drugs, something he'd no doubt been doing all day. As B.A kicked the van into gear, the sirens could be heard and getting louder as the police sped towards the hospital, they'd be long gone by the time they arrived. Small mercies.

"Where to Hannibal?" B.A asked, his gaze shifting to the rear view mirror so he could check on their stricken team mate.

"Head for the lake cabin," he replied as he moved from his seat in the front so he could check Face over, reaching for the kids arm so he could gauge the damage to his hands. It was instantly pulled away and Face's eyes glared down at the colonel, blinking rapidly as the kid tried to focus. "Easy, Face. I just need to check your wounds."

"I don't want any…" Face's words slurred, but they all knew what he was really refusing and it made the colonels blood boil.

"No one's going to give you anything, I promise." He reached for the kids arm again and this time Face stayed calm, but watched Hannibal like a hawk. "We're gonna need some supplies, B.A, the cabin hasn't been used in a while."

"Leave that to me, you and the fool just get Face inside and resting up."

"Is it buzzin for you, Faceman?" Murdock asked softly from just behind Hannibal who now had the first aid kit and was cleaning up the lieutenants cut and bruised hands. "It buzzes and scratches and makes you feel like your own head is turning against you, but it passes muchacho. It gets quiet and you can hear those normal voices again and you don't believe those lies anymore. All you gotta do is sleep my friend."

"Can't slee-"

"Sure you can," Murdock shuffled forward off the seat and knelt by Face while Hannibal continued to work. "I ain't gonna let none of those monsters in, Face. Didn't I always keep them away?"

"Yeah, yeah you did…" Hannibal listened, he knew what they were speaking of, he knew the reason Face never once made Murdock feel bad for his irrational, knew why the kid played along with the captains eccentricities. Murdock had shielded the kid from a lot in the POW camps taking the beatings and the torture originally meant for their younger friend. They'd all done it, they all knew just how young Face had been at the time despite his clever lies and forged papers. But Murdock took most of those hits and carried them around with him still.

"Well I'm keeping them away again; you can put money on the fact that they ain't gonna get you anymore, Face."

"I can't do that to you again Murdoc-" the walls around the kids emotions finally crumbled and Hannibal had to swallow back his own as Face finally broke down, crying into the waiting shoulder of Murdock. The captain was biting back his own anger and tears.

"I ain't letting anyone hurt you, kid. Not my lil brother. Just shut those eyes, Facey and let that buzzing slip away okay? You ignore it and you dream instead." Hannibal nodded appreciatively to Murdock as Face finally let go, his breathing evening out and his body relaxed.


	6. Chapter 6

The cabin was all closed up since the last time they'd used it and would no doubt be dusty and cold. As Hannibal got out of the van he looked up at the sky seeing a bunch of dark clouds gathering and hoped they would get Face in and settled before the storm hit. B.A got out the other side, noticing the same menacing sky and jogged round to assist Murdock who was trying to move Face with out waking him. Hannibal didn't think anything could wake the kid now, thanks to Murdock, Face had slept solidly during the hour it took them to get here, finally surrendering to the meds once he understood he was safe.

While they guys worked together to transport Face from the van to the cabin, Hannibal was already unlocking the place, allowing them entry. As soon as the door opened, the colonel got a taste of the stale, dusty air that billowed out, he stepped inside to open all the windows and air out the place.

"Put Face on the sofa for now," he said as he took off the dust sheet and balled it up before throwing it out onto the porch to hang and beat out later. "Murdock, do the other rooms, B.A," Hannibal handed the muscle man some cash. "Get as much as you can with that, food, medical supplies."

"Sure thing, Hannibal." With both men carrying out their orders, Hannibal liberated the rest of the sitting room and adjoining kitchen from the dust covers, shaking them out on the porch before folding them up and putting them in the storage closest. Murdock had done the same to the bedrooms before moving on to set up their perimeter defences. Hannibal didn't think they would be disturbed by Decker but there had been plenty of times he had thought that, and had been caught by surprise. If ten years on the run had taught them anything, it was to expect the unexpected.

Now alone in the cabin with nothing but the soft, steady breathing for his downed team mate and his thoughts, Hannibal sat wearily, knees creaking and hands trembling ever so slightly. It wasn't often the hardened colonel got like this and when he did he made sure to hide it from the rest of the team. They were in trouble and had been from the day they first escaped the stockade, they looked to Hannibal for guidance, he couldn't fall apart and he couldn't show anything but confidence and certainty that one day, they would be cleared of all charges. He wished that every day for his team, none more so than Face.

The lieutenant had been little more than a boy when he came into Hannibal's care and while the smooth talking, charmer had everyone else fooled, Hannibal along with B.A had sussed the guy out right away. He had the idea to send Face back home to the states, on the grounds he was under age, but proving it was difficult. It seemed like the kid had every base covered and smiled triumphantly when Hannibal was thwarted at every turn. Over the next few months, Hannibal had learned a lot about the kid, that he was resourceful, thorough, could spot a trip wire ten yards away, talk most people into selling him their children, and was small, fast and could take out guys twice his size with one punch. Every day Face proved to Hannibal that he was meant to be there, that there was more to the kid than good looks and the scams he pulled and ultimately, he was the perfect fit into the rag-tag team that was Hannibal's troop.

Hannibal was something of a rouge element himself, never quite living up to the expectations of top brass, which is why he'd never excelled beyond the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was too unpredictable, too unorthodox and too cocky when his 'plans came together', especially when most thought they would fall apart. Because of this, Hannibal had a soft-spot for those others like him, others chastised for being a little more than normal, for having something that threatened the standard of acceptance. Each member of the A-Team had that 'something' and for each it was different.

For B.A, it was his 'Bad Attitude' and not simply for getting into fights, the way he spoke was loud and brash and officers just weren't used to being spoken to in that tone, not by anyone, never mind a sergeant. But that's just who B.A was, he meant no disrespect with his tone, his rough around the edges approach and above all else, his honesty is what Hannibal found so refreshing. When you give an order, the last thing you expect is your soldiers to speak back, doubting you, making you second guess yourself, but that's what B.A did when he thought you were talking crazy. What made B.A such a good soldier and even better team player was even though he doubted you, he still followed through, carrying out those orders to the letter, adding his own style of barbaric beauty into the mix and what you had was an unstoppable powerhouse! If the brass had only been able to look past that initial dissent, they would have seen just how good a soldier, how great a man he was. But their loss was Hannibal's gain.

Murdock was one of the best combat pilots in Nam, but to fly with him you felt like each trip would be your last, enemy fire not to blame. No, Murdock loved to show off those skills and while he would never admit it, he really loved to make the new guys loose their lunch. It was a right of passage in his eyes. You weren't a hardened Vietnam veteran until you'd puked on Howling Mad Murdock's ride across the river. The amount of chunks that had been spilled into the waters during those years was likely responsible for the boom in the fish population. It was also the reason Hannibal avoided the BBQ's when it was a fish special.

Only Face escaped Murdock's custom 'chuck it up' tour. Like Hannibal and B.A, Murdock was onto the kid the second he laid eyes on him, and like Hannibal, just wanted to get the kid back home were it was safe. When that didn't happen, all they could do was try and keep him alive, teaching him everything they knew, there when he needed support, building him up, training him and just because he was young didn't mean he got an easy ride either, if anything Hannibal pushed him harder because he had too. There was a reason for the minimum age, no soldier wanted to loose a kid to a war they had no right to be in, but since Face had made it so they had no other choice, Hannibal was going to make sure the kid wasn't going to be a liability. And he hadn't, if anything he had become an asset. Anything the team needed, there it was with a smiling 'Faceman' standing beside, polishing his nails, letting them know who they had to thank. Pretty soon the A-Team was the subject of jealousy, as when most of the troops spent the night in leaky, cold tents, Face had scammed his friends a caravan and once it was fixed up, it had its own hot water and heating system. They'd even covered it with camo-netting just to keep the brass happy.

Hannibal looked across at the kid now, his relaxed features showing the lines and shadows of a grown man, one hardened by war and strife, so much strife. The colonel shook his head and sighed wearily.

"You always did know how to keep us on our toes, kid." He muttered with a fond, but sad smile.

"Really?" The raspy voice asked and Hannibal's sad smile turned into a more sincere one. "You're going to blame me for this?" Face's eyes were mere slits as he struggled to pull himself fully awake.

"Did I say this was your fault?"

"The implication was there," he responded with a smile of his own, wincing when his dry lips cracked and he attempted to moisten them with an equally dry tongue, an unfortunate side effect of the sedatives. Hannibal got up and crossed to sit on the sofa, unscrewing the cap from a bottle of water and producing a straw from his pocket. "You do come prepared," Face quipped before sipping from the straw; his heavy head falling back when he'd drank his fill.

"I blame myself," Hannibal said as Face's eyes started to close, he'd hoped the kid would continue to drift off, but at the muttered self confession, Face renewed his efforts to wake and squinted up at his CO. "I should have acted sooner. I knew something wasn't right…"

"Don't…don't do that to yourself, Hannibal. It's was just a case of… wrong place and wrong time. Like so many other times I can recall." The lieutenant managed a crooked smile and his left hand patted that of his CO's. It was cut and bruised, reminding Hannibal that they needed to be dressed soon as B.A returned with the supplies. Face sighed softly, having drifted off during the colonel's musings. He would be like this for a while until his body rid itself of the medication. The colonel smiled, thinking back on the brief conversation. Face always come across as quite self-centred and it took a long time to realise he was anything but. Despite being through one of the toughest days of his life so far, with barely the strength of a new born kitten, Face had consoled Hannibal. He was anything but selfish.

"Perimeter defences are all set up, colonel." Murdock reported as he came back into the cabin, dusting off his hands. Hannibal nodded and got up from the sofa, dropping a blanket over Face who continued to sleep on. "How's he doing?" The captain asked.

"Better, he came round a minute ago and didn't seem so confused this time."

"That's good, that's good. Maybe the buzzing wasn't as loud as mine." Murdock sat in a nearby chair, still watching Face who hadn't even twitched.

"Well he only had one dose; you however, had a lot more." Hannibal crossed the room to pat Murdock on the shoulder seeing the weary looking man lift his gaze. "Get some sleep, captain."

"No, no, you're gonna need help with Faceman I need to be here."

"B.A and I will manage. That's an order Murdock." Big brown eyes pleaded but finally gave up when the colonel refused to relent and the tall, slim pilot sulked the entire way to one of the twin rooms.

* * *

Face laid there, eyes irritated by the light coming in through the open window. He'd been sleeping soundly up until a minute ago when the light from the high noon sun started to beat down on his face, it contradicted the freshness of the air, the kind of aroma that follows a steady downpour, but now as he squinted up at the sky, all he could see was blue.

He sighed, taking in that wonderful aroma, feeling it fill his lungs and clear his head, easing the dull thump he always felt when he'd slept to long. It wasn't like he'd had a choice about that but now he would be suffering for it the rest of the day… which ever day it happened to be. He'd woken up a handful of times, at different points in the days cycle so he knew he'd been laid up a day at least if it was around noon again. It was usually a call of nature, a change of clothes or a drink of water that saw him wake or be woken by a member of the team. He'd done his best to be amicable about the disturbance but the way he had felt on some of the occasions, that was difficult. He felt weaker than a new born baby and it bothered him that he could barely do a thing with out some kind of help, so the guys were often on the wrong end of his temper. He had some apologising to do.

He sighed once again and let his eyes close, the light growing too much to bare. He turned from the window and looked across at the vacant bed on the other side of the small room. Murdock had been his room mate, as usual, since B.A couldn't get any sleep if they bunked together. The muscle man was always too highly strung when Murdock was around, and no one wanted a grumpy B.A.

He was glad he was alone this time he woke, the thought of being watched while he was sleeping just freaked him out. It wasn't that he didn't like his team mates, on the contrary, he cared for them, they were his family, but they were guys! Soldiers! They didn't do all that touchy-feely crap. Though one set of memories oozed through the walls of his mind and came to the fore making him fear for his masculinity. Reaching out for Hannibal's hand, to reassure his friend and CO. It wasn't exactly mushy… it's not like they held hands and looked at each other another deeply in the eyes, right? Right. Their guy status was in no danger. But it was probably best if he couldn't remember…

It was now or never, if he delayed a minute longer he ran the risk of being discovered to be awake and help would ensue. No, he needed to do this himself. With a deep breath and right arm under him as he rolled to swing his feet slowly over the side of the bed, he eased himself into a sitting position. His head thumped a little harder now he was vertical and he could feel a rush of blood drain in a downwards motion making him question the logic of his actions.

The young lieutenant sat still until he felt his body adjust before proceeding to the next phase. To actually stand up. He was just about to push himself forward when the door flew open and there stood Murdock, action figure in hand.

"Face!" The pilot exclaimed excitedly, his expression changing from one of delight surprise to outrage. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Well I was-"

"No, no, no! This won't do! You can't be serious, do you know how badly and easily it can smash if you're not careful with your thought processor." Before Face could fully decode the meaning behind Murdock's rambling, or even protest, the pilot was at Face's side helping him to stand. "Years and years of gathering, soaking up all that precious one time thought-type-stuff and all it takes is one well placed table corner, a hard stone floor and their gone. Like so many marbles out of my lucky marble bag."

"Didn't live up to the name huh?" Face quipped and hung on to Murdock as his insane friend lead him into the sitting area.

"It was a very lucky marble bag actually, one time it was almost run over by a train at a crossing, but a gust of wind blew it out of harms way and back into my pocket, it just wasn't lucky when it came to holding on to those marbles."

"Kinda like your head, fool." B.A stated, followed by a customary glare before he went back to stirring the contents of the metal cooking pot. Murdock paused briefly before finally helping Face into a waiting chair at the dinning table, where Hannibal sat lighting up a cigar.

"Welcome back to the land of the conscious," his CO said with a smile. "You're just in time for lunch." Face felt his stomach flip and it must have shown because Hannibal pre-empted his argument. "You haven't eaten in two days, Face, that's why you feel sick." At that B.A placed half a bowl of chicken soup down in front of him.

"My grandmothers recipe, don't go insulting my grandmother, Face." B.A said gruffly followed by a gentle pat to the lieutenant's shoulder. A gentle as it was, it still hurt some what and the memory of his fall from the vent explained why.

"Thank's B.A," Face said, hoping he hid the discomfort before picking up the spoon from the table. "Two days?" He asked seeing Hannibal nod. "So, it's uh…"

"Friday." Hannibal finished for him, putting out his cigar as his own soup was served.

"Wow, Friday." He plunged the spoon into the soup and stirred it around a little. "No point in calling Colleen to rearrange our date, not since I technically stood her up."

"The guy looses two days, is held against his will and given drugs that knock him on his ass, as his only concern is for the woman?!" B.A practically threw the soup down for Murdock who just grinned back in thanks.

"At least I'm consistent." He argued back seeing B.A smile and shake his head. He was about to taste the soup for the first time when Hannibal put a hand on Face's shoulder and gave a brief squeeze.

"Don't ever change, kid." The colonel said sincerely, catching the smooth talking con-man off guard. All he could do was nod and smile in response as Hannibal's hand dropped back down to his side.

Face glanced around the table, at each of his team mates as they got stuck into the chicken soup. B.A smiling with every mouthful, Murdock making a raft out of the crackers and sailing it in the bowl, while Hannibal, even while he ate, mind ticking away thinking on to their next move. As bad as things had been the worst thing about what happened to him was being kept from them, his friends, his team, now he was back, everything was right with his world.


End file.
